Brutalism: as a preferred style for institutional buildings in modern architecture period

Abstract

From the 1950s onward, Brutalist style spread all over the world and dedicate many breathtaking architectural movements to buildings. Architect’s opinion about this prominent approach to building design varies greatly. Brutalist style has known primarily for its aesthetics and property for institutional buildings with the use of functional reinforced concrete, steel, modular, and repetitive elements. Besides all advantages of brutalism, this style is sharply criticized for being cold, crude, cruel, and not appropriate for many climates. Brutalism also became popular with governmental and institutional buildings in modern architecture period and most of the well-known university campuses were built in this style. The purpose of this paper is to study the adaptability of brutalist style with institutional buildings and evaluate it from this point of view. Three institutional buildings have been selected as case studies for evaluating in this research such as The Royal College of Physicians, Brunel University Lecture Theatre, and Metu faculty of architecture. Due to this study, Brutalist style through their fire-resistant and durable materials which don’t need to be renovated constantly is suitable for institutional buildings.